1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for stacking flat articles, such as double bags, which have been severed by hot-wire welding from a continuous tubular or semitubular plastic film and have opening-defining edges adjacent to their center lines. The articles are delivered by a transfer apparatus, called a wicketer, which comprises feeding arms. The feeding arm secured to a shaft and rotating about a horizontal axis are arranged in pairs in a starlike array, and the bags are needled, adjacent to their longitudinal center line, on a holding plate, which is provided in a stacking station and carries upstanding stacking pins or needles, so that stacks are formed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such apparatuses are known, e.g., from German Patent Specification 36 11 237 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,499 and from German Utility Model Specification 80 00 912. However, these known apparatuses have the problem that each stack must be so quickly removed from the range of the arms feeding the articles that it is difficult to operate the apparatus without an interruption.
Published German Application 36 11 369 discloses a stacking wicketer in which temporary stacks of flat articles are formed on a magazine plate, which is slidable to and from a receiving position so that the apparatus can be operated without a need for interrupting the feeding. This known apparatus has a complicated structure and requires a movement of large masses within a very short time.